America’s Thanksgiving Hymn

T he concept of liberty holds particular power for Americans. We claim it as one of our unalienable rights. We assess policies and politicians by their fidelity to it.

But, as we prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving, is liberty something for which we can give thanks?

At first glance, liberty appears to be in tension with gratitude. Thankfulness comes in response to dependence, from owing something to someone. Thanksgiving stems from — and is furthered by — the humility of recognizing another’s provision. By contrast, liberty is often defined as a self-wrought and self-perpetuated independence. A dependence on no one means no one else deserves thanks for accomplishments, possessions, or status. Thus understood, liberty could engender the opposite of humble gratitude, becoming the father of selfish pride and the nurse to petty presumption.

But (thankfully!) such a liberty is foreign to America.

Our freedom not only is consistent with humble gratitude — it inspires a thankful attitude. We see this point articulated and celebrated in the song “America (My Country, ‘Tis of Thee).” Written to the same melody as “God Save the Queen,” Samuel Francis Smith composed the lyrics while attending Andover Theological Seminary in 1831, publishing it the following year — 190 years ago.

For its beautiful tune and soaring lyrics, it remains one of America’s best-known songs. Yet it also is a song grounded in a profound and sincere spirit of thanksgiving. In fact, one rightly could call it America’s Thanksgiving Hymn.

The song’s gratitude centers upon American freedom. The words brim with thankfulness for liberty, which we see in the exuberant praise Smith lavishes on it. He calls for all to join in freedom’s “song,” be it humans (“Let all that breathe partake”) or the natural elements (“Let music swell the breeze” and “ring from all the trees”). We praise that for which we are thankful. In praising liberty, we see it as something precious. We also recognize that our possession of it is not a given. As we could very well lose our freedom one day, our continued possession of it evokes gratitude.

Moreover, Smith’s lyrics say why we should praise liberty and thus be thankful for it. Smith calls freedom “sweet” and America the “Sweet land of liberty.” In these lyrics, Smith evokes the understanding that liberty is a source of pleasure to the one who has it. In fact, it’s an essential means to the pursuit of happiness. This truth, too, points us to thanks, since we show gratitude for those things which please us. Without the sweetness of liberty, we’d have the bitterness of slavery.

One might think, however, that liberty’s sweetness entails another problem, one linked to a tendency toward selfish independence. If liberty is pleasurable, does that mean liberty involves license, the capacity to act immorally in pursuit of the pettiest and lowest desires? Smith addresses this point in the second verse, where he describes America as the “Land of the noble free.” Nobility points to what is worthy of honor, namely virtue. John Adams made the same connection in his “Thoughts on Government,” writing in 1776 that, “The happiness of man, as well as his dignity, consists in virtue.”

The freedom the song celebrates is a similarly noble one, an ordered liberty whereby we practice self-government. Through that self-government, we order our thoughts and actions in pursuit of the good. The song extols gratitude for this rightful kind of liberty. We should be thankful that our liberty not only opposes tyranny from without but cultivates good character from within.

Moreover, the song gives thanks for the sources of our liberty. First, Smith’s lyrics thank our ancestors. America is the “Land where my fathers died” and “Land of the pilgrim’s pride.” He notes this history to point to the deeper truth that we owe our freedom to the brave, pioneering men and women who came before us. They are our fathers not only in blood but in principle. For this reason, our thanks to them must include humility. We did not establish the freedom we possess and for which we are thankful; our forefathers did. Founding a free society is no easy task. We must be humble enough to doubt we could do the same. Neither is maintaining it effortless. Subsequent generations maintained this freedom, bequeathing us, their descendants, with its fruits. Indeed, they live on in the liberty we inherited from them. We can see this bequest promised in our Constitution’s Preamble, which gives as a goal, “to secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and to our posterity.” For the work done to secure those blessings, the only logical, the only moral response is gratitude.

Smith also gives due thanks to God. His last verse calls God the “Author of liberty,” which should instill in us a humble thankfulness in two ways. For one, God creating liberty gives another reason why He deserves our worship. Our ancestors recognized freedom as a good, but He made it. As its maker, God is the source of every good and every benefit flowing from our exercise of freedom.

For another, we do not maintain liberty entirely through our own efforts. Smith petitions God to “Protect us by thy might” to keep “our land bright” with “freedom’s holy light.” We cannot presume on our liberty because we are not its author, nor can we keep it by our own efforts alone. Its bestowal is an act of Divine grace; its continuance is a manifestation of Divine power and mercy.

This Thanksgiving, may we together sing “Sweet freedom’s song.” It is a song of liberty. It also is a song of gratitude. Even more, may we live its truths, ever thankful for the blessing of liberty, its ancestral heritage, and its Divine origin and maintenance. This Thanksgiving, let gratitude sing. And “Let freedom ring!”